PRESS BRIEFING
BY
SECRETARY OF STATE MADELEINE ALBRIGHT
AND
NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR SANDY BERGER

Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina

4:10 P.M. (L)

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Thanks, Mike. Let me just try to
give you an overall and then Sandy will go through some of the
details of the meeting.

The President came to Sarajevo and Tuzla on the heels of
his decision for our forces to stay. And while the decisions are
being made as to what the force might look like, it is important for
the people here to hear a very strong message from the President,
which is that while we have come a long way in the last 6 or 7
months, there is a great deal to do here; and it is up to them -- and
he met with the presidency -- to do the work and to make some tough
decisions. We are here to help as we can, but what he was saying was
that they have to do some of the heavy lifting themselves, they have
to work together, there has to be a sense to try to create these
joint institutions.

He also met with President Plavsic, and with her there
was a very open discussion about the situation which she faces in
Republic of Srbska and the importance that we place on her support
and implementation of the Dayton process and the work that she is
doing as she gets ready to set up a government. I think in all the
meetings the President was very direct and made very clear our
commitment to Bosnia; but also, just to repeat, made very clear that
there is a lot of work to be done that the leaders themselves have to
do.

We were very pleased with what we saw in Sarajevo. For
those of us that have been here before, there really has been a great
movement forward. And I think, as the President described in his
speech, in concrete terms there really are changes in Sarajevo which
we welcome and we're obviously very grateful to the troops that we're
seeing here in Tuzla.

MR. BERGER: Let me give you a little more detail on the
specific meeting. Let me just say one preliminary observation. I
thought today was quite an extraordinary day in many respects, but
perhaps most because what we saw and heard today in Sarajevo was a
combination of what was, what is and what can be. And I think all
through the day those three dimensions played themselves out in the
President's speech, in the conversations he had as he walked around
Sarajevo, in the tears of the eyes of men and women who saw him as he
walked down the street and in the meetings that he held.

I think the most important meeting of the day was the
meeting he held with the Joint Presidency, with President
Izetbegovic, President Zubak, and President Krajisnik. The meeting
was opened by President Izetbegovic, who said that he and all of the
Bosnian people were truly excited by the President's decision to
come. It really was, I think, and I'm told by the Ambassador, that
when he told President Izetbegovic that the President was coming, he
was almost stunned the President of the United States was actually
coming to Sarajevo. He described it as an historic day in
Bosnia-Herzegovina. And the citizens of Sarajevo are very happy.

He said that they were intent on implementing Dayton
-- nothing more, nothing less; that it needed to be implemented fully
in all of its aspects. He spoke in particular about preserving the
unity of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the multi-ethnic quality. He talked
about the importance of refugee returns. And he told the President
that two days ago Sarajevo had decided -- the Federation, I guess,
had decided -- that Sarajevo would become, I believe, the ninth open
city in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This is a program that has been adopted,
or is being adopted around the country. Now, I think, six cities in
the Federation, three cities in Srbska, where there is a concerted
effort being made to bring minority refugees back to their homes. He
talked about the importance of the apprehension and bringing justice
-- by bringing justice to the war criminals.

He expressed the hope that the United States government
will continue to provide support. He said the United States is not
only a strong nation, but a great nation because it fulfills its
mission in the world, and that's what distinguishes it from simply
being a powerful nation. He thought there had been good progress on
implementation of Dayton. He kind of described two periods -- the
period from Dayton to Secretary Albright's mission, trip here -- when
was that?

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: In June.

MR. BERGER: In June -- and that the pulse from that
period forward. And I think the distinction he was making was an
acceleration of the implementation process that has taken place most
of this year in and around the Secretary's visit here.

He said that SFOR has a very good reputation, we should
not be concerned; has great sympathy among the population. And he
asked the President to thank the troops on behalf of the Bosnian
people. He said that -- again, in the context of the refugee issue
-- that Mrs. Ogata and the U.N. Human Rights Commission had
designated -- refugees, that's right, I'm sorry -- the High
Commission of -- thank you, Madame Secretary, I draw upon your
background here -- had designated 1998 as the year of return -- which
was certainly not worth my stumbling over the last 42 seconds.
(Laughter.) And he talked about democratizing the media.

President Zubak spoke then. He again thanked the
President for coming and thanked the American people for helping
create peace and for the humanitarian support that Americans and
others around the world had provided for Bosnian people, both during
the war and since. He said that peace was yielding results. He felt
that was demonstrable in all walks of life, but the process was
slower than perhaps we all wanted because the crisis had been very
deep and that we needed to take that into account and we must have
patience.

He said that Bosnia-Herzegovina is possible, can survive
and can be a country -- this is from the Bosnian-Croat President --
if the natural differences between people are respected and they are
seen as an enriching reality, and thought that that was very much the
President's vision as well. President Krajisnik, the Serb
Co-President, also described this as an historic moment, big event;
thanked America for producing the peace, which was above all else, he
said, the turning point. He said that Dayton was a compromise. All
the parties objected to some provisions of it, but they had to -- but
they all embraced it in its totality. He was very thankful to the
United States -- said there is God and then there is America. His
view was the great danger that we would revise Dayton to the
disadvantage of the Serbs, in his view, and thought the President
should come to Srbska.

The President then spoke. He said that -- I should say
-- let me step back here and set the scene, of the great storyteller
in the middle of the story. (Laughter.) Sitting around the table,
in addition to the President and the leaders, the Secretary and other
members of our delegation were -- several members of the
congressional delegation -- Senator Dole, Senator Biden, Senator
Stevens and then the other members of the congressional delegation,
were also present at the meeting, as well as the military leadership
-- General Shelton and General Clark and General Shinseki. The
President said he wanted to be very straightforward; that we didn't
have a lot of time in this meeting and therefore he wanted to
maximize its value; that the United States would supported Dayton and
would support those who supported Dayton in Bosnia.

He thought that we had been behind schedule in civil
implementation, as he said before; although he thought that we had
been picking up the pace. He talked about the importance of -- he
both recognized and acknowledged the enormous progress that has been
made, but then pointed out the things that all of them had to focus
on: the permanent joint institutions, refugee returns, corruption,
independent media. He said he recognized the wounds of war were
deep, but it was up to the leaders to implement Dayton; and people
deserve no less and expected that to happen.

The general -- as Secretary Albright has pointed out
-- and the President then went a little bit around the table to each
of the leaders and talked about things that each could do in terms of
sharing power, in terms of getting rid of the vestigial institutions
of the old Herzegovina in terms of Srbska recognizing that this is a
unitary state. He was very direct and very candid with the three
leaders.

Senator Biden made some comments. Senator Dole made
some comments, very supportive of what the President said; Secretary
Albright did. And, again, I think in total it was a very
straightforward, very candid and, I think, helpful meeting. The
President ended by saying that obviously it's important for the
economy -- a number of the leaders had talked about the economy --
and he said it is important to the economy to recover. That
obviously will help to change attitudes that were here. The United
States -- not because we have territorial ambitions or because we
have any ulterior motive. We're here because stopping the war was in
our national interest and building this peace is very much driven by
our values.

I think that's a general summary of the meeting. The
meeting with Mrs. Plavsic, as the Secretary indicated, focused in
particular on the situation in Srbska. She made a very important
point. She said one should not forget -- one should not overlook the
dramatic things that have happened that you don't see, that you now
take for granted. This is not her phrase, but in a sense she was
saying that what was extraordinary has now become ordinary. And in
particular she talked about freedom of movement. And we all spent
months in Washington working toward achieving a greater degree of
freedom of movement within this country.

When IFOR first came there were checkpoints all over the
place. You couldn't go half a dozen miles without being stopped.
And now, basically, there's freedom of movement. One of the students
in the cafe with the President was a Serb student that comes into
Sarajevo to go to school every day. And she said -- this happened in
the last five months, an extraordinary development -- she said she's
now trying to form her government following the assembly election.
She said that she believed it was very important to support Dayton.
And as all of the leaders indicated, they all believe that the
international presence was indispensable and I think what the
President was saying was the international presence was here, but the
ultimate responsibility for the destiny of Bosnia lies with the
Bosnians.

There was a small -- a couple of other quick meetings.
The President met briefly with President Izetbegovic, as Chairman of
the Joint Presidency, essentially kind of a continuation of the
conversation taking place before. He met with Carlos Westendorp, who
is, as you know, the High Commissioner; John Klein, the Deputy High
Commissioner was in a number of our meetings. And so compressed in
this space and time was, I think, a pretty intense discussion about
what has been, what is, what can be.

Q You've described a lot of discussion and give and
take in the meetings of the Joint Presidency. Was it a tension-free
meeting?

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Actually, I think, yes. I think
that it was a meeting in which there was a great deal of frankness
and openness. But I would not describe it as being tense, mainly
because I think the President and all of us -- but especially the
President -- made quite clear our commitment to helping. And it was
also very clear that it was thanks to the role that we had played
that they had come as far as they have come.

So while I think it was very frank, I would not describe
it as a tense meeting.

MR. BERGER: I agree with that. I also would say,
though, I mean, the President obviously made a deliberate decision
that this is not simply going to be a feel-good meeting. I mean, he
had business to do, and the message he wanted to deliver was, as I
said, you've got to bear down even harder. A lot has been done.
It's extraordinary what we've seen. I'm sure you've talked to people
who were in Sarajevo two years ago -- there were not even people on
the streets, let alone what we saw today. But there is still work to
be done.

Q One question of fact. How long were each of these
meetings? And also, did Mrs. Plavsic make any specific commitments?
And how comfortable are we with this public embrace of here today? I
mean, is there any uneasiness about that?

MR. BERGER: -- the President of the Republic of Srbska,
so it's not like she's not a legitimate leader of Srbska. Just to
answer your first question, I would guess the first meeting went 40
minutes, 30 to 40 minutes. The Izetbegovic meeting probably 10
minutes. The Plavsic meeting maybe 20, 15 to 20.

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I met with Mrs. Plavsic separately
earlier. And I would say that, as Sandy said, she is the
legitimately elected President. She also, I think, has a very clear
picture of what has to be done. And she is -- has made quite clear
in word and deed that she wants to implement Dayton. And we have
said that we support those who support Dayton. And as she now begins
to form her government, she is interested in making sure that the
police is increasingly democratized, that the media is able to
operate openly, that there is even more free movement, and that there
be as much as possible done to reconstruct the economy. So the
equation is, we support those who support Dayton.

Q Do you expect any more inclination on the part of
Ms. Plavsic to be cooperative in the handing over of some of the more
prominent war crimes suspects? Any feel for that?

MR. BERGER: My impression is in the congressional
meeting when asked about that question, he quite pointedly did not
-- said I think it's better for me not to comment on that -- which is
kind of an interesting answer.

Q What do -- think of that?

MR. BERGER: She didn't say no apprehension of war
criminals.

Q The President told these three guys that it's up to
them to implement Dayton. But these three guys can't agree on what
the money should look like, or the car license plates. Did you get
any feeling that they actually listened to him and that any impact is
going to come from this?

MR. BERGER: Well, they talked a little bit about the
flag. The fact that there's disagreement on the flag should not
obscure what has happened here in the last two years. Symbols are
often the most difficult things to deal with. I mean, look at the
issue between Greece and Macedonia on the design of a flag. This is
not simply about whether one designer versus another designer. This
goes very much to self-image and sense of nationhood. I suspect this
issue will get resolved. But they have created a joint presidency.
that joint presidency has created a parliament; it's created a
council of ministers; it's created a constitutional court, all of
which meet.

So I think that to put too much emphasis on something
like that is slightly out of proportion. But the President did raise
it, said get it done. Excuse me --

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Let me just say, you all are very
used to following the President around and seeing him in various
cities in the United States and around the world. But I can tell
you, from having been here a number of times myself, and others who
have been here, I think the excitement over the President of the
United States coming to Sarajevo is palpable and you cannot in any
way underestimate the importance of what is going on here. And the
people lining the streets and a sense about the symbolic importance
of him being here. And this goes back to were they listening. And
if they can't agree on a flag, I think Sandy is absolutely right,
having listened to the FYROM discussion at the U.N. longer than most
people. And I think that here they -- I think it's very important to
understand the importance of his being here and telling them what he
said in a way where the three of them were together, and he was
delivering the message himself. And then the rest of us were
-- supporting and -- especially the members of Congress. So I do
think that it is a, I think, a key event, the President's presence
here.

MR. BERGER: Let me just add, I think that's a very
important point. Let me just add one piece to it, one dimension to
it. I think that this has been a very extraordinarily brutal and
painful six-year period for this country -- '91 particularly to '95,
and then trying to reconstruct something out of those deep wounds.
And in many ways, I think the President of the United States coming
here is a validation for the struggle to build the peace. And I
think in that sense it gives those who are engaged in that enterprise
an enormous sense of resoluteness to carry on.

I mean, just look at the face of that young boy who
introduced the President in a wheelchair and watch his expression as
the President was talking. What he stood for was validated by the
President. What those kids up in the balconies believe about their
future was validated by what the President said, what those kids in
the cafe said. The future of Bosnia lies in this next generation,
obviously. And so I think in that sense, I actually agree with
Madeleine. I think it is -- it says the world cares and the world is
going to stay with you in this effort. But ultimately it is your
peace to make.

Q -- want to return to -- "no comment" on the question of war
criminals. Isn't that a pretty -- that was a silence of sorts, but a
pretty pregnant silence?

MR. BERGER: Well, I'm not sure I would -- I don't know.
I was not in that meeting, so I really shouldn't comment further on it.

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I was not in that meeting, but I
made very clear to her when I met with her that part of complying
with Dayton is to cooperate with the War Crimes Tribunal. So,
frankly, what we were spending a great deal of time on were some very
practical things in terms of her getting her government set up.

MR. BERGER: I should also say that the President made
that point very specifically and pointedly to President Krajisnik in
the tripartheid meeting.

Q What was his response?

MR. BERGER: He didn't respond.

Q What kind of impact do you expect this trip to have
back home, both with the public and the Congress, given the
delegation you brought along.

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think you'll have to ask them.
But I do think that, from my perspective anyway, that the combination
of things that we have seen here, the willingness of people, some of
the troops that we've talked to say that they think that this is an
important mission.

The President's speech, which I believe to be one of the
finest that he's given in terms of explaining our commitment to
Bosnia, I think it will have a positive impact. And I think if they
pay attention to some of the individual stories and to see the mood
and the symbolism of the Sarajevo Philharmonic, I think it is a -- in
my own thinking, I would say that this trip will have a positive
impact because of the combination of things: of the President's
presence here, his commitment to Bosnia, and at the same time his
being candid about what needs to be done.

We are going to be candid with you and the American
public about the fact that there is work to be done, and that the
momentum has to be maintained, and that we are here to help. But as
Sandy and I have both said, they have to do the heavy lifting. And
we are going to keep pressing and just to keep -- you know, I say
this about other places I've gone -- but telling it like it is about
what has to be done. And that's what we will do, and that's the
impact of the trip.

MR. BERGER: Let me just say one other thing. I think
it's interesting that the President chose to bring a quite diverse
congressional delegation. It's obviously bipartisan. It's obviously
House and Senate, but it reflects a range of views. I mean, we could
have simply invited the people who are strong proponents of a very
strong American role in Bosnia. That was not the judgment that we
made. And I think that's a healthy thing.

Q I'm a little curious about the President's own
reaction to this. He's talked a lot back in the states about Bosnia
as an example of what can happen if we let cultural, ethnic, racial
differences go unaddressed? He'd never actually been to Sarajevo
before. He highlighted in his speech all the progress that had been
made, but was he moved or shocked by how ravaged the city still is?
Did he indicate anything regarding that?

MR. BERGER: I think the President was -- and the First
Lady both were quite moved by what they saw and heard. I don't think
one can be an American and see the slaughter that was ended and the
gratitude of the people for what we have done and the genuine desire
for us to help them see it through and not be moved. And I think the
President was moved by that.

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: Let me say, I would have -- I think
that Sandy has obviously described the President's feelings; but
you're saying shock. For those of us that have been to Sarajevo
before, I would say that would surprise me was the rapidity of the
change, even since I was here in June; that it really looks a lot
better. And that even though it is winter, there are many people out
on the streets and there seems to be a much greater sense of normalcy
than there was in June. It's my fourth trip here to Sarajevo and I
think that while to those who come for the first time there might be
a sense that there are a lot of windows missing, there are a lot of
buildings that are going up and a lot of -- a sense of putting things
back together.

MR. BERGER: I asked General Kerrick who, as you may
know, was part of the Dayton negotiating team and who was here
frequently during the war, and Jock Covey, who was now at the NSC and
who was here immediately in '95 -- on what the most striking
difference is from '95. And they said there was nobody on the street
in '95 and certainly no children -- you never saw any young person,
the parents kept them in their basements to protect them. And just
the sheer normalcy of people being on the streets, people being able
to go about their daily lives, there being light, there being
electricity, there being water, there being power, there being jobs.
These are around profound changes that have taken place.

Q Have you decided to appoint Mr. Dole to the Commission for
Missing Persons? And is that an effort, perhaps, to have him bring
along people within his party to also get behind this proposal to
extend the troop deadline?

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I meant to tell you, I did it about
two months ago. And he is the Chairman of it, having taken over from
former Secretary Vance. And I think that everybody knows that
Senator Dole had a great interest in Bosnia and had -- we all talked
to him a great deal. I did when I was up in New York. And I think
the reason that we did it was because of his interest in Bosnia, and
making sure that there are -- there is some accounting -- one of the
hardest parts here in the times that I've been here is like meeting
with the mothers of Srebrenica who can't account for the missing; and
the fact that the issue of the missing is a very large one in terms
of reconciliation. And when I announced the deployment, I said how
very pleased we were that he would take this up. And having him here
with us, I think, is very important for that effort.

Q Secretary Albright, you said you met with President
Plavsic to discuss rebuilding government. Does she really believe
it's possible to rebuild her government with the war criminals still
controlling things in Pale.

SECRETARY ALBRIGHT: I think she thinks it's very important to
get a functioning government of people that are going to put their
shoulder to the wheel and really be professional; and that she thinks
that -- my sense about her is that she is pretty no-nonsense about
getting things done. She is trying to find the right people. She
obviously continues to be in a situation of antagonism with the people
in Pale. And she is just moving forward.

She's in a tough situation. She is doing what she can
to support Dayton, which is why we are supporting her.

MR. MCCURRY: There is nothing that -- anything needs to
be cleanup from back home? Good. We wouldn't know it if there was.
We have no comment on the Redskins or anything like that. Okay.

Q Is there a decision about Aviano, yes or no?

MR. MCCURRY: No, I think they're still checking to see
what the minimums are in Aviano. And we probably won't know until --

Q What's on for tomorrow, Mike? Regular briefing?

MR. MCCURRY: Tomorrow. I think later in the day the
President will light the menorah in the Oval. And I don't know that
there's any other schedule. That's the only thing that we've got.

(interruption in feed)

Q Are you doing a regular briefing?

MR. MCCURRY: No, I'm not planning to either gaggle or
brief tomorrow unless there's any objection. I don't think -- the
President's got the day off with the exception of the Hanukkah
ceremony. And the balance of the week will be last-minute Christmas
shopping and then his own personal observance of Christmas. No news,
no briefs, no gaggles, no McCurry.

Q That includes Wednesday, no gaggle, no brief on
Wednesday?

MR. MCCURRY: Yes, same for Wednesday, too -- no gaggle
or brief on Wednesday. So we are in a news-free zone after today.